Personal communication devices are now used in many aspects of every day life. Thus, the amount and type of data that can be utilized with these devices is essential to their efficient use. In fact, the more relevant the information is to a user's everyday life, the more useful the personal communication device becomes. However, it is difficult to determine what is the most relevant data for the user and in what situation that data would be of the most use. To this end, it would be helpful to determine the movements or habits of a user to give more insight to a user's specific interests and needs. One solution for determining the movement of a person or item is the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RF-ID) wireless systems.
A RF-ID wireless system is a relatively new approach to automatically identifying, categorizing and locating people and assets over a relatively short distance (substantially zero to hundreds of feet). The RF-ID labels are known as tags or transponders and they contain varying amount of information ranging from an ID number programmed into the tag at the factory to a 128 K bytes variable memory that can be programmed by a controller unit using RF radiation. The controller unit is usually referred to as a reader or interrogator.
RF-ID interrogators communicate with the tags through the use of radio frequency (RF) energy. The interrogator sends out an RF signal which “wakes up” the tag, and the tag then transmits a signal back to the interrogator via an RF frequency signal. RF-ID wireless network principles are described in a publication entitled “Radio Frequency Identification: A Basic Primer,” published by the Automatic Identification Manufacturers (AIM) web site (http://www.aimglobal.org), Oct. 23, 2001 and fully incorporated herein by reference. Attempts have been made to utilize RF-ID wireless networks for various applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,682,142 is directed to a network system of fixed position and movable tag nodes. Each node includes a microprocessor element, pre-programmed to recognize external environmental conditions and to logically act on the basis of the recognized condition parameters and communicate with other nodes in the network. The nodes provide an independently operable overall network that has a defined area of operation capable of location identification, logical control of preprogrammed environmental conditions and logical interaction with external inquiries for transactional operations.
PCT publication WO0145038 is directed to a short range communication system. An interrogator is held near a person whose clothing contains multiple transponders. The interrogator and/or the transponders may be held in an article of clothing or in the personal effects of a person. The transponder transmits identifying information associated with the state of the article of clothing or personal effect. The system enables the clothes to communicate with a plurality of items and obtain useful information. Additionally, the system may be configured so that any particular transponder may communicate with another transponder or group of transponders of other locales to activate functions, cause actions or otherwise share data and/or information.
PCT Publication WO01/39108 discloses a system that includes a mobile communication unit wherein a RF-ID identification module is added between the radio port and an antenna in a mobile telephone that includes a Bluetooth function. The module comprises a mixer for transposing identification messages from identification devices in a 2.45 GHz RF-ID system of the backscatter type to a baseband for further processing in a computer part of the unit. The unit may communicate with a super ordinate system, via a standard call channel or Bluetooth channel. The unit is also cabled to send information to the identification devices for alerting or transmitting data, wherein modulation and encoding can be effected in accordance with the Bluetooth standard enabling the mixer to be included as an integral part of a standard Bluetooth radio.
However, none of the RF-ID systems described above suggest personalizing the functionality of a personal communication device based on the information obtained from the RF-ID wireless devices to increase the efficiency of the device.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a method, system, apparatus and computer program product that provides improved personalized functionality of a personal communication device for more efficient use of the device. The method, system, apparatus and computer program product of the present invention disclosed herein address this need.